Hazel Byford, Baroness Byford

Who is Hazel Byford, Baroness Byford?

Hazel Osborne Byford, Baroness Byford DBE DL is a Conservative member of the House of Lords, where she served as Opposition Parliamentary Spokesman for Food, Farming and Rural Affairs from 1997 to 2007.

Her father Sir Cyril Osborne was Conservative MP for Louth, Lincolnshire from 1945 to 1969. She married, in 1962, Barrie Byford.

She was raised to the Peerage for Life as Baroness Byford, of Rothley in the County of Leicestershire in 1996, having been appointed a DBE in 1994.

Lady Byford is President of LEAF and Leicestershire Clubs for Young People and a Patron of several rural organisations: Women Food and Farming Union, National Farm Attractions Network, and the Institute of the Agricultural Secretaries and Administrators. Since 2007 she has served as President of the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers. She is a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Society and an Honorary Canon of Leicester Cathedral.

Lady Byford serves as a Deputy Lieutenant for Leicestershire and as a Warden of the Worshipful Company of Farmers in the City of London.

She and her husband live on their poultry farm in Leicestershire. In 2008, Lady Byford received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Nottingham Trent University in recognition of her outstanding contribution and commitment to agriculture and rural life.